ABSTRACT
The tragic vision facilitates Coleridge's acceptance of hardship as necessary in a rational and ordered universe. The social vision of Coleridge's youth accords with the modern, democratized tragedy posited by Raymond Williams, while the older Coleridge's view of his world is more readily identifiable with the conservative tragedy delineated by Ren Girard. The nature of tragedy's fertile presence in Coleridge's thought is that it recurs in diverse guises, with little generic consistency. Coleridge does not turn to orthodox Christianity until adopting Trinitarian belief in 1804, but as early as 1798 he expresses doubt in the tragic vision. The French Revolution is the major historical influence on Coleridge's anxiety that suffering might occur in vain. Evidently, Coleridge feels that Robespierre can conceive a road to Heaven though Hell', and that Coleridge himself cannot do likewise indicates his lack of steadfast faith both in the Revolution and in the doctrine of Necessitarianism.
